Sheldon's Shirts
by stl85
Summary: Strong T rating for language and slight sexiness. Very AU and OOC. Why does Sheldon wear two shirts everyday in sunny California? Why won't he let people touch him? What's the real reason why he is so different? Why did Jislane tell me to publish it? Let's read and find out together shall we?
1. Intro To Sheldon

**Welcome to my new story! I hope you enjoy. **

**Now for the blanket disclaimer for the entire story: I do not own The Big Bang Theory. I don't own Penny, I don't own Sheldon. If I did they would have hooked up a long time ago. I do own the dvd's and they make me happy. I also own a soft kitty, but she isn't a little ball of fur. She's more like a cranky roommate who wants to sleep on my feet.**

* * *

It's not as easy as you think it is.

It's not the blessing you think it is.

Most of the time it's a plague, a curse that attacks you without warning.

He first noticed that he was different when he was a child, playing in the park with all the other children.

When playing tag he would get so happy and excited that he would bounce all over the house for hours after being home. When his sister was upset he would cry for hours with her, no matter what the cause was. If his brother got upset he would help him break things. When his father got into one of his moods, he was the first to know.

It was inherited from his MeeMaw, who explained it to him as gently as she could.

He could feel what other people felt, experience as if it was first hand. In time he would learn control. He would be able to put up shields that would keep people from bombarding him with their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

So every day before school Sheldon Cooper would walk down the street to his grandmother's house and practice control. Every day he would try to put a bubble around himself, a shield to keep other people away from him. He pictured a shade of blue that scarily matched Luke Skywalker's lightsaber before the movie was remastered enveloping him and protecting him. And it worked.

It worked until Sheldon's extra-ordinary brilliance caught up with him. Scholarships afforded him free schooling and he jumped at the opportunity to learn more, to be more than he ever thought he would. Phone calls and letters transferred lessons from one to the other. Summers came and while visiting he would make leaps and bounds learning control. The downside being that when he left for school his studies took up most of his time. One step forward two steps back, as Meemaw put it in one of her letters. It wasn't very effective, but it did get the job done.

Until Meemaw passed away that is.

He was in Germany at the time as a guest lecturer. He was ignoring the indifferent and bored sensations that the majority of the class was giving him and was focusing on the four or five students that were interested and paying attention. They deserved his brilliance even if the others didn't. In the middle of his lesson pain and immediate loss crashed into him like a title wave, it was so strong and wild that it completely covered any other sensation he was focusing on.

Ending the class early Sheldon called home the second he reached his room. Missy answered, throat raw from uncontrollable sobbing. She tells him in between heaving that Meemaw was gone. Shakily he informs the family that he will be home as soon as he could. Hanging up the phone he collapses to the floor, crying himself to sleep.

The funeral is a nightmare. Sheldon himself is too raw to exert any kind of control, he shields are down completely. His family's grief is so overwhelming he refuses to stand near them. Others are crying, mourning the only woman who would accept you no matter what. Some are there simply out of respect for the dead. It was the two women in the back that got to him.

Self-righteous at its highest form, he could feel the two older women laughing. They were happy she was gone, thought she was fake and were so negative that he couldn't focus on anyone else anymore.

His brother offers to take him to a bar when it's over, and Sheldon gratefully accepts. Anything to make the feelings go numb. They didn't go away though.

If anything, in a way Sheldon can never fully explain, alcohol seems to have the opposite affect on him. He felt it all. Every person at the bar is broadcasting at a level that he can't tolerate. He is in a room full of screaming, crying idiots. All of them obsessed with drinking away the day or the next sexual exploit that was sure to go their way. Too many feelings running in his head, almost as if each one had a particular level of hell made just for him. He stumbles out of the bar and sits in the bed of his brother's truck, waiting for him to follow.

It's there that he meets the person that turns him into a man. Grieving, drunk, and feeding off of her need for physical contact Sheldon welcomes her with open arms. His first time is not a pleasant one and it ends before it even really begins. Disappointment comes off of her in ripples. It's one thing to guess that she fakes it, quite another to know for a fact that someone finds you lacking. Sheldon is embarrassed and offers to help her, but can already tell she will say no. In three days word gets back to his mother who writes it off as the wrong way to grieve and forces him to go to church five days in a row to ask God's forgiveness.

With no one to help him learn control and no one to really talk to about his so called gift, Sheldon relaspes hard. He doesn't even try to recapture the control and concenration it takes to be social. The boy who has once thrived on having friends and being social now does everything he can to avoid it. Different mannerisms are studied and copied to keep people from him. His intelligience isolated him to a certain point, but Sheldon always worked to overcome it. Now he welcomes it with open arms.

The isolation is welcomed until he realizes that he is a husk of what he used to be, no interaction is almost worse than too many people. Instead of having other people and their moods attacking them, it was just his thoughts and feelings. It's too lonely. Sheldon realizes that being an empath he must be around people, it's a part of his 'condition'. Without people he doesn't feel anything. With them he feels too much.

Once he permanetly moved out of his mother's house and into his own apartment, the silence was deafening. A slightly social roommate seemed to be the perfect solution.

Enter Leonard Hofstadter, a man who always wanted to sit at the cool table but always knew that he never could. Thanks to Leonard's mother the man was always trying to please. This meant that he wouldn't touch Sheldon's things; that could amount to torture when the man was in a bad mood. He also refrained from touching him, something Sheldon couldn't abide. Feelings were too raw, whispers of thoughts would float through his mind when skin to skin contact was initiated. Sheldon knew what Leonard really thought of him no matter how hard he tried not to. Smug, anti-social, egotistical to name a few. The real Sheldon was far from it, but only glimpses of that were ever shown.

Out of Leonard's friends, only Howard and Raj were tolerable. Howard was constantly thinking with his penis, something Sheldon had learned at an early age how to tune out thanks to a brother who was six years older than him. Raj was a genuinely sweet person, although he did have a lot of dark moods and thoughts that Sheldon would help him block when they threatened to overwhelm the poor man.

For four years the life that Sheldon had created worked. His mildly social friends gave him enough human interaction to make life livable, and it also gave him the isolation that he would crave when their feelings became too much for one person to handle. Everything was going according to plan in Sheldon's life and for the first time since the death of his Meemaw he gained a small amount of contentment in his life. Not happiness, but a mild satisfaction.

Satisfaction until one day it hit him like a slap across the face. He was talking about stairs of all things, trying to gain a reprieve from Leonard's imagined slight of the day when it slammed into his being. Pure feminine, the aura almost pulsed around him, daring him to come closer. Determination with muted disappointment floated down the stairs to caress him on the second floor. Pessimism with slight undertones of relief gave him a hug on the third floor landing. Doing his best to ignore what could only be described as an assault Sheldon focused on the tasks at hand; up the stairs, unlock the door, water from the fridge, then Battlestar Galactica with commentary. Bee stings of lust so palatable that Sheldon himself became slightly aroused bit through the remaining of his defenses.

Leonard was staring at the open doorway, completely entranced with whomever was the new occupant. Sheldon gave a slight frown before turning to see what the big deal was. He would miss the old neighbor, and getting used to new auras would exhaust him for a few weeks. He ignored Leonard and tried to narrow his so-called gift on the person in the apartment. The quicker he was used to the new presence the better. It was like the presence on the stairway, but stronger. A sense of comfort and security swirled around him for the first time since Germany. Startled, he looked up and met the eyes of the person who he felt two floors down.

"Hi, I'm Penny." She told them with a small smile of greeting.

Sheldon knew then that whatever she was, she was the beginning of the end of the mild satisfaction his life had become.


	2. There is a naked girl in my bathroom

**Big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. You make me happy! Also, any ideas for a cover pic for this story? I haven't found one that I'm satisfied with yet. Oh, and Sheldon has a bit of a private moment near the end of this chapter. Nothing too explicit...but those of you with slightly more delicate sensibilities may wanna skip the last paragraph.**

"You could sit next to me?" Penny asked him. It was obvious that she was trying to be nice. It was too late though, her essence would be trapped in the leather for a couple of days at least. It wouldn't be as bad as if Howard or Leonard dare do the same but it would affect him nonetheless.

"Sheldon, sit!" Leonard's neediness was wrestling with the need to be accepted by what he perceived as a conquest. Normally Sheldon would not have stood for it, keeping Leonard in line by now had become second nature, but the abrupt change in his mood made Sheldon respond quickly.

Sheldon was trying to focus on what the other two were talking about, but all the sudden a mass shift in Penny's mood triggered an almost protective response to rise him his body like acid. Noticing that Penny was now crying he looked to Leonard to find out what to do.

Focusing too hard on Leonard had now caused the current problem, Penny naked and in his shower.

"Great Leonard, just great." He sent a glare in his direction.

"I'm just trying to be a good neighbor Sheldon, calm down." Annoyance was lapping at Sheldon like puppies begging for attention. It barely concealed the lust that was still prominent in Leonard's very demeanor.

"That woman is not going to have sex with you." Sheldon foretold with absolute certainty. Penny had broadcast a lot of things in the half hour he had known her, but desire for either of them not not been there.

Sheldon was ashamed to admit that he had searched for it. It wasn't a skill he was particularly good at, but he read through her emotional layers and found nothing. Good, it would make her much easier to ignore in the future.

"You can't know that." Leonard whined. "This seems to have been a bad break up, maybe she would like to start fresh with a friend, instead of her usual preference."

"You can't assume that this last circumstance was any different than what you are proposing." Sheldon tried to explain, "That may well have been how her last relationship started." Then he felt it, Leonard was about to erupt.

"And you can't assume anything. If it wasn't for me, that girl would not be in our shower right now!"

"Through no effort of your own!" Sheldon was feeding off of the anger and desperation to prove one's self that he was receiving from Leonard. "And if I had my way she wouldn't even be here, and we would be enjoying the commentary of Battlestar Galactica!" He didn't bother to shield. He was enjoying feeling angry. It was an emotion that he was all too familiar with.

"Naked girl?" Howard interrupted from the doorway, "There is a naked girl here?" Sheldon closed his eyes against the arousal and interest coming from him. There were too many emotions come at him at once now. Anger with hints of arousal from Leonard, full blown disbelief from Raj, and what could only be described as horny coming from Howard.

"Yes, her name is Penny. Her shower is broken and Leonard allowed her access to our bathroom, without written notification, in hopes of a sexual escapade." Sheldon explained as quickly as he could. If he made it about him they usually left, not wanting to deal with such a demanding person. Sheldon couldn't blame them, if he had a friend like himself he wouldn't be able to stand it either.

Naked girl with physical appearances unknown seemed to have trumped a Sheldon Hissy Fit however.

"A pretty Penny, a shiny Penny, pick her up and have good luck." Howard murmured to himself. Sheldon grimaced at Howard, and tried to pull himself together enough to ignore him.

It would have worked too, had it not been for an almost half-naked twenty year old that chose that moment to walk down the hallway.

"Thank you guys so much! Oh, hi. I'm Penny." She told Howard and Raj.

"Howard. Always nice to meet a woman as beautiful and delicate as you." He said with a swarmy smile. Raj just smiled and waved hello.

Between lust pouring off of Leonard and Howard in droves and Raj's self-loathing and desperation, Sheldon couldn't help himself. He had to escape.

"If you will excuse me, I have to go sanitize the bathroom. Lord knows what pathogens she has just introduced into our home." He said hurriedly before making his exit.

Once he had entered the bathroom and locked the door securely, Sheldon took a look around. This girl truly was a mess not to be trifled with. Her scent was everywhere, it felt like it was even trying to sink into the walls, a permanent way of tying her here. It was comforting, safe, addicting, and arousing all at once. He wasn't sure where the feelings of comfort and safety came from, but the addiction and arousal spelled Howard and Leonard to a tee. After scrubbing the sink and toilet Sheldon turned his attention to the shower. It almost felt like she was still in there the aura was so strong. It didn't matter how many times he cleaned or how much bleach he would use, the pure scent of her lingered.

Figuring that by now Penny's essence was sticking to his very skin, Sheldon decided to take a shower. Turning the water on as hot as his skin could tolerate it Sheldon disrobed and entered the shower. He washed his body four times each as methodical as the last. It didn't work. She was still there, taunting him. Eventually he wasn't certain if he wanted it to go away or not. It didn't feel off, like his cousin Sharon when she forgot to take her medication. It didn't feel negative, like his old gym coach either. It truly did feel safe and secure. As he cleaned his stomach for the fifth time he let her essence wash over him, he no longer wished to fight it. The arousal that he thought for certain belonged to either Howard, Leonard, or both gathered around him. Before he knew it he was slowly stroking himself, teasing it halfway to its full hardness. He tried to stop himself, but didn't try enough to do more than slow his hand down. Before he knew it Sheldon was leaning against the shower wall with his eyes closed, fulfilling an urge that is never quite satiated.


	3. Don't use the Force, young padawan

**Thank you again for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites.**

**One with the show!**

After his embarrassing moment of self-abuse in the shower, Sheldon decided to to everything that he could to avoid Penny. She was a virus, and he a petri dish waiting to be infected. The only solution to keep the virus from contaminating the petri dish was to keep them apart. It didn't keep her very being from floating down to him on the stairs and caressing him, but it did keep the brunt of her away.

For the first time in years, Sheldon was practicing control. He needed his shielding back in full force. Years of forced isolation and anti-social behavior had them weak. He never tried to block his friends, he had decided it was easier to just tone them down. Yells to whispers, whispers to a murmuring background. Sheldon even pulled out the letters that he kept from his MeeMaw to make sure that his eidetic memory didn't let something slip. He had no clue what the others thought that he was doing, he made very sure to never touch them so that no thoughts were accidentally overheard. He even started wearing his long-sleeved shirts underneath his regular ones more often so that the likely-hood of them touching him went down. After two months of solid practice Sheldon felt like he had his control back.

To test his theory he decided not to hide in his bedroom and to participate in anything can happen Thursday. When he announced that he was joining them Sheldon held his breath, waiting for his friends to broadcast their dismay.

And he felt...nothing.

"Sure Sheldon, but we are going to a club. Are you sure that you wanna go?" Raj asked him. Was that hopefulness that he would change his mind? No, it wasn't. It was just the tone of voice Raj used. Sheldon nodded to himself in satisfaction.

"Yes. I would like to join you in this evenings frivolous activities." He gave them his kill Batman smile before he went to get his wallet.

"You should have told him Penny was coming." Sheldon overheard Howard tell Raj. While he was trying everything he could to stay away from her, Leonard was doing everything he could to get into her good graces. They thought that Sheldon stayed away from her because she wasn't as smart as them, she wasn't a scientist. They were wrong.

Sheldon closed his bedroom door and almost bolted right back inside.

He felt her before he saw her in all honesty. Bubbly excitement was floating in the air with a tinge of concern. Underneath it all was a pure, pulsing feminine aura that he had come to associate with Penny. Mentally re-enforcing his shields, he entered the living room.

"Good evening Penny." He said in the monotone voice that he had cultivated over the years and hated.

"Hi Sheldon. Leonard tells me that you are gonna join us tonight?" Penny asked him uncertainly.

He closed his eyes when he realized that he couldn't feel her anymore. He could only see her. Sheldon gave her a small smile that she gave back with confusion.

"Yes indeed Penny. I am curious to see why all of you follow your baser urges to the extent of public humiliation. I am considering writing a paper correlating sexual exploits to one's IQ." He grabbed his keys and opened the door, "It may one day be taught in schools and save an entire generation from becoming engineers." Sheldon ignored the looks he got from his last statement and walked out the door.

* * *

"This may have been a bad idea." Sheldon told himself two hours after being at the club. Sheldon thought of it more as a desperation pit. He didn't need to lower his shielding to know that either. One or two people may have been here just to enjoy themselves but the majority of the people he had been observing seemed to just want to get drunk or have a hook up.

People watching was one of his favorite things to do, it was one of the last things his Meemaw taught him. They would go to a park or a mall, pick a bench, and just watch. She would have him lower his shields just enough to get a touch of feedback. Then she would have him try to figure out which 'sensation' went with which person.

Sheldon glanced over to watch his friends. They amused him when they thought no one was watching. Raj was at the bar, which was predictable. He seemed to have enough liquid courage in him to strike up a conversation with a slightly stout blond. They both seemed engaged in each other so Sheldon turned his attention to Howard. He seemed to be trying to chat up a tall olive-skinned woman who didn't look like she was enjoying herself at all. Then Howard made the mistake to actually touching the cover girl and received a sharp smack across the face and a spilled drink in his lap for the effort. Sheldon rolled his eyes and shook his head before spotting his other friend. Leonard just looked sad. He was sitting at a table by himself because Sheldon had sufficiently annoyed him enough to leave. He just kept staring at all of the ladies walking by, but apparently lacked the courage to actually talk to any of them. As Sheldon was making a mental note to subtly help Leonard in the self-esteem department, little tingles started nipping at his shields. Abruptly he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. His shields, thanks to his extra practice sessions, were holding up surprisingly well. Even in this large of a group he was proud that he wasn't being attacked by emotions that had nothing to do with him.

Except this.

This tingle, which started small, turned annoying quick. He couldn't quite place it and he couldn't understand what was going on. Sheldon closed his eyes and double-checked his shields. There were what seemed to him as little dents, hail damage was being done to his shielding. Something was trying to get his attention, but he had no clue what.

He tried to ignore it, but it refused to go away.

Trying to focus, Sheldon decided to find the source of his annoyance. Slowly he allowed himself to be pulled in by it. Once he stopped fighting it, it was like a path had opened up before him. He didn't even second guess himself because he didn't need to. It almost beckoned him, teasing him. Sheldon followed his instincts, trying desperately not to touch anyone that he walked by. He didn't want anyone else interfering. Eventually he found himself in a corner by one of the main fire escape routes and stopped still.

There it was.

The tingles that were beckoning him, daring him to follow them.

"Penny." He whispered.

She didn't notice him. She wasn't noticing anyone except for the man that had a very tight grip on her upper arm and waist. Sheldon moved to the side and tried to blend himself into the wall. He didn't like what he saw but didn't know what Penny wanted.

"Look baby, all I'm saying is that I saw who you came in with. You're way too fine to be with those losers." The man said. Obviously drunk and not wanting to take no for an answer.

"Just let me go." Penny demanded. She had a few, but was nowhere near drunk.

"You think that you can just walk in here looking like that, and not give two glances at anyone? Dressed like that you're begging for it." Sheldon moved from wariness to instant hatred for this man.

"I'm begging for it?" Penny asked. The man had no sense of self-preservation or he would have chosen that moment to back off. Penny's tone of voice foretold danger if he pressed much further.

"Begging for it and I'm gonna give it to you." He leered at her.

Sheldon had enough. A surge of protection raced through him like an electrical current. Before Penny could react with her own form of judgment Sheldon flew the few feet separating them and wrapped his hands around the other man's wrist that was connected to the hand touching Penny's arm.

"Would you rather let me give it to you instead?" Sheldon's twang was running through every word. He met the other man's eyes and tightened his grip. "Or would you rather apologize to the lovely lady, pick up what is left of your dignity, and walk away?"

Giving in to the temptation, Sheldon allowed himself to shift through the man's mind:

_Looks like a wimp, bet I could take him._

_He does have a tight grip._

_Didn't know the slut had a boyfriend_

_Probably a bad lay anyway_

Once the stranger took his hands off of Penny, Sheldon released him.

"She is not a slut. She is confident in her body. A lot of women are. That is never an invitation for you to touch someone. If they say no, stop. It's pathetic, and you make us all look bad. And as for how she is in bed? That is a privilege that you will never know." Sheldon said, still deep in the man's thoughts.

Once the man was out of ear shot, Sheldon was surprised to get a smack upside the head.

"For your information, I could have handled it ok? My mama didn't raise no fool and my daddy taught all of his kids how to hand out an ass whooping." Then she leaned in and gave him a hug. "But thank you." She whispered. Pulling away she said, "I think it might be time to go. Let's go get the others."

Sheldon stared at her as she walked away. People didn't hug him, hell people didn't touch him. He went out of his way to avoid it. That man was disgusting, a perception and mind that he hoped never to come across again.

But Penny? Penny was sunshine and electricity. Super Mario and spaghetti with hotdogs. Seven of Nine and Donna Noble.

Penny must have noticed that Sheldon wasn't behind her because she turned around to look at him. "Coming?" She mouthed to him.

Filing his reactions to a simple hug for later, Sheldon nodded and started moving towards her.


	4. Chicken Soup for the Sick

**Thank you again for all your reviews, follows, and favorites! You guys are wonderful. As for the fast pace of posting, after not being able to end one of my stories to my satisfaction, I decided to write it out completely before posting. That means a chapter a day. That would make me happy as a reader, I hope it's ok with all of you guys too.**

* * *

After that night Sheldon and Penny settled into a friendship of sorts. Sheldon believed that it was mainly due to the control that he slowly regaining day by day. He no longer ran to his room when she entered their apartment. He was beginning to accept the fact that sometimes her emotions would nibble at his shields, but he hoped it would soon get to where they wouldn't break through. Sheldon could now tolerate being around Penny, he was even starting to enjoy her company.

And then he got sick.

Sheldon hated getting sick for more than the normal reasons. From a young age he discovered that there was no way for him to control his condition when he was ill. Everyone and everything hit him full force. Or it would go the opposite way and he would feel nothing. No one would be able to inflict their emotions and feelings on him. Sheldon didn't know what was worse: feeling too much or not at all.

Just in case it went the way of feeling too much, over the years Sheldon had conditioned all of his friends to stay away. Everyone felt a little bit needy when they got sick, but Sheldon had developed it into a science. He made sure that once his friends caught wind of him feeling off that they would go running for the hills. It was a system that worked.

Until Penny.

Sheldon had caught a bug of some sort and had already managed to scare away Leonard and Howard. It was getting quicker every time. Sheldon smiled to himself once he heard the front door shut. A quick phone call to Raj ensured that no one would be entering the apartment for at least twenty-four hours.

Alone at last.

In nothing but a pair of jean shorts and a plain white tee Sheldon headed into the kitchen and made himself some tea before settling on his spot to watch FireFly. Even though he was sick, in this moment he was wholly himself. There were no pretenses, no false behaviors to keep people at bay, just Sheldon the way Sheldon wanted to be.

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

Before he had a chance to run for his room Penny opened the door.

He really needed to start taking her into account when he got sick. It was hard to figure her out though.

"Sheldon, Leonard told me you were sick so I grabbed some soup at work, and what are you wearing?"

Well Sheldon no longer had to guess which way things were gonna go. Her concern for him and then getting smacked with her confusion made him a little bit speechless.

"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about." It was the honest truth too. Penny's confusion was so strong that it was affecting him more than normal.

Penny stared at him for a moment and Sheldon could almost hear the thoughts running through her head. It was like quiet murmurs in the background, begging to be listened to and understood.

"You sick?" She asked him.

Needing to put some distance between them and hopefully send Penny running for the hills he responded, "Your grasp of the English language never ceases to amaze me. Yes, I have contracted a disease of unknown origin. Any further questions or are you willing to let me die in peace?"

Penny rolled her eyes at him. "You're not gonna die. And I talk like normal people, not stuck up physicists who need a good punch to the throat. Since you're sick, I'll hold off for now." She placed the soup on the kitchen counter. "I guess I'll just let ya be sick on your own. Sorry I tried to help."

_Don't know why I even try sometimes. It's not like he even cares._

Sheldon's head shot up. That couldn't have been Penny could it? He wasn't touching her, wasn't even looking at her.

_Should have just stayed home._

"Don't leave." He practically begged in his normal Texas voice, all hints of robot Sheldon gone.

_What?_

"What?" Penny asked. Sheldon groaned. He hated it when that happened. It was like getting feedback from a speaker system.

"Don't leave." He whispered again. Sheldon couldn't tell you why, but for some reason her leaving was suddenly went from the first to the last thing he wanted.

Carefully she headed back to the couch and sat down in the middle cushion. "Ok." she whispered. "I won't go."

As she settled next to him the feeling of safety and comfort that he felt from the first day he sensed her came back in full force. Without his permitting it his hand found hers and he tangled his fingers in with hers. Letting her pure essence wash over him, Sheldon felt himself falling asleep.

* * *

Sheldon was stirred out of his sleep when Penny tried to move.

"No." He told her in his half-awake state.

"Sheldon, I need to get up and you need to get to your bed and get some rest." Penny said gently.

He sleepily shook his head. "Don't wanna. Wanna stay here. With you."

Bemusement rained down on him and caused him to smile. "Sheldon, you need a bed."

"I need a Penny." He said, still in the happy space Penny provided for him.

She gave a throaty laugh, "You're sick."

"You're cute."

Surprise and shock shot out of Penny and flowed right through Sheldon.

_What the hell?_

"Sheldon," Penny began gently, "You're sick and you don't know what you're saying." Her surprise now held an undercurrent of concern.

"I'm sick." Sheldon said, holding on to her concern, "But I always know what I'm saying."

Penny gave him a soft smile for that, and the secure feeling she gave intensified. There was something else there though, something that Sheldon had vast experience with when it came to Penny. He always contributed it his friends' feelings bleeding into his, but they weren't here as an excuse this time.

Lust.

Desire.

Whatever you wanted to call it, it was back and it was beckoning him, along with something else he was scared to put a name to. Sheldon turned his body towards her, refusing to break eye contact with her. He couldn't tell if the anticipation was from Penny or himself. What he did know was that the urge to kiss her and hold her, to possess her in every way a man could was over-powering his need for self-preservation. He heard Penny's breath hitch as realization struck.

At the last moment he changed his trajectory and instead of her lips he gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"Don't want you sick." He whispered to her as she searched his eyes. Warmth and affection swirled around him and he closed his eyes and a soft smile graced his face.

"Sheldon?" Penny asked him quietly, "What does this mean?"


	5. Well, that just happened

**Not entirely happy with the next chapter, but I don't know what to change about it. Oh well, here ya go!**

* * *

"I truly don't understand this. At all." Howard said to Raj as he watched Sheldon hand Penny a bottled water before settling in his spot.

"There are many things that you don't understand, seeing as you only have a Master's degree in engineering, but let's try to narrow it down. To what are you referring?" Sheldon said in his usual condescending manner.

Truth was, he didn't really understand it either. How someone like Penny could want to be in a relationship with Sheldon was beyond him. He didn't want to look at it too closely though. He was too scared to try to delve into Penny's aura or mind because he wasn't quite sure what he would find.

"I'm referring to the fact that this luscious lady, this blond haired goddess, this -"

"Get to the point or have the point of my shoe up your ass Howard." Penny told him through narrowed eyes. Sheldon inwardly smiled at her. He knew that Penny thought what Howard said was so ridiculous it was funny but didn't want the guys to know for some reason that he hasn't figured out yet.

"You want the point? Why would you want a relationship with this anal nuttbag? Especially when there are people sitting in this very room who are willing to give you what Sheldon can't." Howard said, exasperated.

Sheldon wanted to call him out on it, but his past experience made the words stick in his throat. He wanted to yell at him, force his dominance on the shorter man. Instead he forced fake Sheldon out and said, "I surpass you in so many things Howard, that I find it hard to believe there could be anything that you could do better than me." Well, it was just about as satisfying.

Without saying a word, Penny got up and left.

Sheldon turned to Howard, "That is a strike." He said before following.

Her door was open, so he went right in and shut the door behind him.

Anger was rolling off of her, but he didn't need to pry to feel the embarrassment and hurt that threaded its way to him.

"If we are to have a romantic relationship, you are going to have to learn how to ignore people. I have yet to find someone who doesn't mock me." Sheldon told Penny as he sat down next to her.

"When have I ever mocked you?" Penny's anger was now re-directed.

Sheldon raised an eyebrow to her, "Three weeks ago on laundry night you were using all of the washing machines and then made fun of my routines."

Penny rolled her eyes.

"Four days ago you marveled at the fact that I am in my mid twenties and can't drive for an entire episode of Star Trek, the original series." He continued.

"I get it Sheldon."

"The day before I was ill, you -"

"Sheldon!" Penny interrupted, "I said I get it." In a quieter voice she continued, "That's not what bothered me. What bothers me is that they're right."

"I'm a very smart man, if they were correct, wouldn't I know it?" He asked her with a smirk.

"Sheldon, they are! I know you ok? I know that you don't like people and you don't like touching and you don't like stupidity and you don't like emotions and I" Penny heaved a sigh and closed her eyes. "Do you really think that this could work?" She asked him almost wistfully.

"Of course I think that this could work. Penny, I never do anything half-way. You know this. I don't dislike people, it's just easier to not have a lot of people around." Sheldon was proud that he didn't lie. He just omitted his reasons for it. "I dislike it when people deliberately act stupid in order to fit into society's norms. It's true, I'm not a fan when it comes to emotions. They make me uneasy." Sheldon wouldn't lie to her about that, but he also didn't feel she needed to know why. "As for touching. You are correct in assuming that I do not care for random strangers violating me. I respect personal boundaries. But Penny, you are wrong about one thing." Sheldon quickly grabbed her waist, lifted, and placed her on his lap. He gave a smile at her shriek of surprise then continued, "I do like touching you. I have tried to fight it, but I no longer wish to."

Warmth and adoration hugged him as Penny processed his words. He was unsure what to do next, but a small knot of desire made itself known.

"Penny?" Sheldon asked as he started to run his hands up and down her legs. He was suddenly quite pleased that she was wearing shorts.

"Yeah Sheldon?" She breathed.

"One more thing." Sheldon gave her a smirk, "I also no longer wish to talk."

Penny gazed in his eyes for moment before returning a smirk with one of her own. "Well then," Her voice copied his Texas accent, "Whatever shall we do?" She flashed him one more smile before taking his head in between her hands and slowly kissed him.

God, he really doubted that he would ever get tired of this. Her lips were soft against his, sure but gentle at the same time. A turn of her head changed the angle slightly and he found that they fit together even better. Sheldon's hands had stopped touching her legs and had settled on her hips. They seemed quite happy to be there.

_Sheldon._

Just one word, one name. His name. Thought in a way that made him groan and help maneuver her to straddle his lap.

"Oh!" Penny said in surprise when his mouth opened under hers and his tongue tentatively reached out and touched hers. Curiosity and lust sparked off of Penny and hit Sheldon's shields. He was surprised that they were holding at all. He was having trouble concentrating on that. The only thing he could really concentrate on was Penny. The way she felt up against him. Soft where he was hard, curved where he wasn't.

They were the perfect compliment to each other.

Penny's mouth had migrated from Sheldon's lips to his jaw before finally settling on his neck. Sheldon sucked in a deep breath when he felt her teeth lightly graze his neck.

_Touch me_. Her thoughts begged him.

It made him realize that his hands hadn't moved from her hips. Now startled into action, his hands started to roam her back and he took great pleasure in her moan of approval.

Encouraged, Sheldon lowered his hands to where Penny's shirt and waistline met and slipped his hands underneath her shirt. His hands then made a journey up to her chest, where he began to caress her through her lacy bra.

Penny's mouth had found its way back to Sheldon's and her excitement and desire started to bled into Sheldon's until he couldn't tell who was feeling what. Before he knew it, both of his shirts were gone along with Penny's. She giggled when she caught the expression on his face, then moaned when his hands started to explore her. Giving in to the temptation Sheldon let his fingers run through her golden hair. He was surprised at how silky it felt and gave out an involuntary moan.

_Sheldon, please baby. Please._

Sheldon managed to pull his mouth away from hers to ask, "Please what Penny? You must learn to articulate." He realized that he had yet to give Penny's neck any attention and decided to remedy that.

Before he could place his mouth anywhere near her, Penny pulled back to look at his eyes.

"I didn't say anything."

Shit.

"Are you quite certain that you didn't say anything?" Sheldon asked her. He was quickly looking for a way out of whatever he did.

"You told me to learn to articulate. I didn't say anything." Penny told him with absolute certainty. She climbed off of his lap and put her shirt back on. Then she headed over to her kitchen and fumbled in the fridge for a moment before returning and choosing to sit on the chair instead of next to Sheldon.

"Perhaps I imagined it?" Sheldon asked her hopefully. "In highly emotional states, human beings are -"

"Sheldon!" Penny said sharply. "I didn't say anything, but I -" She paused, seeming to reconsider what she was going to say. "Ya know what? Never mind. I'm losing my mind."


	6. Look at me when I'm talking to you

**Just a reminder...I don't have a beta. Any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone.**

He was trying to be more careful. Penny was more observant than he thought that she was.

The irony.

It had started with their little make-out session. A slip on his part. He forgot to separate her actual words from her thoughts. In his defense it was a hard art to master, especially without a teacher. She was starting to pay more attention to him now. That would be a good thing, if she was paying attention to the things that he wanted her to. Penny was studying him and he didn't like it, but he also didn't want to let on that he knew. The person that he had cultivated over the years wouldn't have noticed, so Sheldon had to pretend. Again.

And they all thought he couldn't lie

Sometimes it was more difficult than others, and today was one of those days.

Nothing had gone right. His work on how sub-atomic particles behaved had reached a dead end. Try as he might, Sheldon just couldn't get a handle on how they acted. Frustrated, he erased all of his formulas on every whiteboard in his office.

His stupid eidetic memory didn't help. Every time he closed his eyes, all of the formulas were there, mocking him.

Leonard, Raj, and Howard all decided to play hooky and left work three hours early, forcing Sheldon to take the bus home. He was so preoccupied with his problem that he missed his stop.

Three times.

Instead of getting back on the bus, he chose simply to walk. This seemed like a good idea, home was only five blocks away. Then the clouds opened up and a thunderstorm followed him all the way home.

Soaked through to the bone, Sheldon trudged up the four flights of stairs, completely zoned out. All he could see were math equations that were determined to defy him. He unlocked his front door and headed directly to his room to change.

He was debating whether or not to just get into his pajamas when he heard the front door open. The voices of Leonard and Penny floated to him.

"You really think that Sheldon is acting normal?" Penny asked Leonard. So much for the pajamas. Fake Sheldon wouldn't be caught dead in them until after nine.

"No offense, but you and him dating is stranger than anything else Sheldon can do." Leonard told her.

Sheldon, now fully dressed, left his bedroom and headed straight for his whiteboard without acknowledging either one of them.

"Sheldon, dinner is ready."

"Leonard, while I appreciate your care for my well-being, there are more serious matters at hand. For instance, why do particles behave as they do?" Sheldon asked the room in general before turning his attention back to his whiteboard.

A slight hurt emanated from Leonard, which was quickly shrugged off. Leonard was too used to Sheldon to take much of what he said to heart. This was a fact that Sheldon was grateful for, he didn't want to hurt the smaller man's feelings, he just wanted space from him. He needed to solve this problem, it was gnawing at him.

"Are you sure sweetie? It's pizza night. We got it just the way that you like." Penny offered. Since Sheldon was facing the whiteboard, no one saw him close his eyes and give a small smile at Penny's concern.

"And I trust that it will remain that way until I am ready to consume it." Sheldon retorted, ignoring the stab of hurt that came from Penny's direction.

"And that's my cue." Leonard said, avoidance floating in his aura. He hurriedly grabbed his cheese-less pizza before scurrying off to his room.

"Coward." Penny muttered before sitting down in Sheldon's spot.

"Penny, that's my spot." Sheldon said, never moving his eyes from the board.

Penny grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite before responding, "Yeah, well I don't see your ass in it. You are over there. I am over here. Therefore, I shall sit in the forbidden spot!" Even though he couldn't see him, she wiggled her hips to get more comfortable.

"Yes, amusing." Sheldon said, flashing her a smile before turning back to his board, "However since it is in a state of eternal dibs, even without my needing a place to rest it is still my spot. Over."

"Fine Sheldon." Penny said as she rolled her eyes and scooted over.

_Stupid spot. I didn't really wanna sit there anyway._

"My spot is not stupid Penny. It is my 0-0-0-0. Please respect that." As Sheldon was talking he felt shock and disbelief attacking him.

_Why should I respect that? It's just a seat._

Sheldon, still facing his whiteboard, responded. "We have been over this fourteen times in the past ten months, two weeks, and three days that we have known each other. Must I repeat myself?"

_Well, I know how much you like the sound of your own voice. I think that you find it soothing._

The disbelief was still there, along with small notes of feeling justified. Humor, laughter at the situation. She was also proud for some reason, although Sheldon didn't want to delve into her mind to find out.

"Yes well, my voice is quite soothing as well as knowledgeable." Sheldon said as he gave a gaspy laugh.

Silence reigned for the moment. Penny's curiosity and intrigue had taken a backseat to the problem at hand. She was a mere blip on his radar. He was grateful that she was there, and even more grateful that she was keeping herself occupied quietly.

Finally willing to take a break, Sheldon turned to get his share of the pizza to heat up to the appropriate temperature. Some things he faked, others he didn't. How hot his food should be was one of the things that were real. As he turned he saw Penny, sitting in the middle cushion, looking at him. Not just looking, staring intently at him. Studying him.

"Do I have a sign pinned on my back?" He asked her.

She looked confused for a moment, "What?"

He went to heat up his food, "Occasionally certain pranksters, whose identity is unknown, have pinned various signs on my back at the university over the years." He turned to face her as the pizza got hot. "Usually they say things like, please give me a hug, and other such nonsense."

She slightly shook her head. "No. No sign."

He nodded and gave her a slight grin as the timer went off.

_Are you gonna be working all night?_

"Not all night hopefully." He took a huge bite of food. Thinking was hard work occasionally.

"Sheldon, we need to talk." Her voice was firm.

"About what Penny?" In his experience whenever a woman said those words to him, nothing good was about to happen. He sat down in his spot and stared at her expectantly.

_About how you can read my thoughts you lying bastard!_ She screamed in her head, a closed mouthed smile still plastered on her face.

"About what Penny?" Sheldon asked again, trying not to let on that he heard.

He didn't do a very good job.

"Don't you start that now Sheldon Lee Cooper! You heard me, I know that you did! Ever since I came over I have been thinking shit and you have been answering me as if I screamed it! Now you tell me and you tell me right now, what the hell is going on?!" Penny was close to tears, as close as she would allow people to see anyway. She was breathing heavily, her chest rapidly rising and lowering with every breath.

Sheldon's mind was quickly working. It was trying to figure out a way out of this. He kept returning to the same answer, there was no way out of this. She had caught him, and he was so focused on his job that he didn't bother to try to hear the slight echo that he learned accompanied Penny's thoughts.

Sheldon closed his eyes and took a breath to steady himself.

"Yes, I can hear your thoughts. In fact I can hear them much clearer than anyone else that I have met in my life." That wasn't what he meant to say at all.

Penny put a gap in between them by scooting to the last cushion on the sofa.

"So you can read minds?" Penny asked, needing clarification. "Or just mine? Is it all the time?"

Sheldon sighed. This was not a conversation he ever wanted to have. "First, I would like to apologize for any invasion of privacy real or imagined that you feel you have experienced. I try to block you out, I truly do, but it takes immense concentration and control. I can't keep it up all of the time." He jumped up and started pacing, unable to keep still anymore. "But you, you manage to break through anyway! No matter what I do you invade me!"

Penny cut in, "So you can hear me all the time?"

Sheldon shook his head. "No. I need to be in range, as it were. And I don't hear you all of the time, more like I'm constantly aware of you. Your very being swirls and floats in the air, crashing into me like a wave -" Sheldon immediately stopped talking and moving. He wasn't even looking at Penny, he was staring into space with a vacant look on his face.

Penny jumped when he finally started talking again, "A wave!" He screamed. "They act like a wave!" Sheldon quickly turned to his whiteboard and started writing furiously. He never even noticed when Penny shut the door behind her.

He didn't see her again for three days.


	7. I am not a liar

**No clue what to say to you guys, except saying thank you, again. It amazes me that people like what I write. **

* * *

Penny had changed her routine to avoid him. Hers wasn't as strict as Sheldon's, that much was true, but certain things were constants. If she didn't work, Penny would sleep in until 10:30, then she would have her coffee and shower before running errands and having lunch with friends. If she did work, then she would shower immediately afterward before coming over for dinner. If she didn't care for whatever was planned as the evening meal then she would eat at home and have a glass of wine while watching a reality show before going to bed.

She wasn't following her established patterns at all, Sheldon couldn't hunt her down. She had even traded a shift at The Cheesecake Factory that Tuesday so that she wouldn't have to deal with him. He knew that Penny was avoiding him, he could feel it. The moment he entered the apartment complex, it was everywhere. Avoidance was paramount, but it was the hurt and denial that got to him the most. The feminine aura that surrounded her when they first met felt tainted, it wasn't as pure and innocent as he remembered. It was wounded now, and as fresh as a cut.

Penny wouldn't answer Sheldon's calls, texts, or e-mails. She wouldn't answer the door when he knocked, she wouldn't answer the door for anyone.

He had to resort to subterfuge.

Sheldon hovered by the door, waiting to feel her walk up the stairs. Once he felt her, he looked through the peep-hole to see her. Once he saw her, he popped out of his apartment. He knew the moment Penny realized he was in the hall. Her entire body tensed up, waiting for him to say something.

"Penny? May we talk?" Sheldon asked timidly.

"Wouldn't you rather just read my mind?" She asked sharply.

Sheldon mutely shook his head. "May we talk?" He asked again.

"Fine." Penny replied in a flat voice before unlocking her door. She walked in and then gestured him to follow.

Penny walked over to her chair and sat down, "You wanna talk, so talk." She stated as she crossed her arms.

You didn't have to be an empath to know that she really didn't want to have this conversation.

Sheldon assumed his lecture stance, hands clasped behind his back, and began talking. "Once again I feel the need to say sorry. It was never my intention to ambush you but you left me little choice."

"I left you little choice?" Penny scoffed.

Sheldon glared at the wall right above her head for a moment before continuing, "As I was saying, you left me little choice. I feel that I must explain what happened three days ago. We were discussing a discovery that you had made about me, which in turn led me to a revelation about why particles behave as if they have no mass..."

Penny waved her hand in annoyance, "Yeah, I got it the first time. It's a wave."

Sheldon gave a small smile. "Yes, yes it is. However this discovery led to you leaving. Why did you leave?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you were one big walking lie?" Penny countered.

Sheldon blinked and took a step back. "I'm not a liar." He stated firmly.

"Yes, you are." Penny stood up in full confrontation mode, "You lied to me! You never told me that you could read my thoughts! Do you have any idea how creepy that is? It's almost like you came in here while I was sleeping or something! It's a total invasion of my privacy, Sheldon. How would you like it if I could do that to you?"

"You wouldn't be able to understand half of the things going on inside my head, Penny." Fake Sheldon was on auto-pilot. He deserved the evil glare coming from Penny.

"Don't. Even." She ground out.

Sheldon raised his hands up in surrender. "Ok, Penny." She looked startled as his entire demeanor changed, "No pretenses, no lies. Any questions you wanna ask, I'll answer." He moved over and plopped down on the couch, waiting for his very own inquisition.

"What are you?"

At least it was an easy one, "An empath. Although lately I seem to be developing at a rapid pace."

She took a moment to process this. "Ok." She whispered, "Ok, so this means you know what other people are feeling right? Like happy or sad?"

"It started out that simple yes. Just knowing that people were happy or sad. Then I one day I realized why they felt the way the did."

"Maybe you're just really good at sympathizing?" She asked hopefully.

"Sympathy is defined as an agreement of feeling, as between persons or on the part of one person with respect to another. When Leonard first moved in, his mother decided to visit. Her disappointment in him, Penny I felt it. It wasn't just knowing how she felt, it was as if I felt it first hand. She is disappointed that he isn't a leader in his field, she believes that he discredits her as a leader in child and parenting physiology. Her hope is that if she constantly forces him to achieve perfection, that one day he will be as successful as his siblings. I got all of that in the first ten minutes of meeting her. Leonard wasn't even in the room." Sheldon tried another tactic, one that he was sure she would understand. "First with Leonard in the stairwell, and again with Howard after your shower, I felt their arousal as if it was my own. It was all I could do to not attack you, possess you. That was why I had to avoid you until I could control myself again."

Penny was upset, this much Sheldon knew. He had his shields up as high and as thick as he could make them so that he wouldn't intrude on her. It was frustrating to say the least.

"So you felt their lust like it was yours?" She asked for clarification.

Sensing a trap, but not quite sure what the trap was, he nodded slowly.

"So then this isn't really you. You don't really want me, Leonard and Howard do and you being an empath," she spit the word out like it was a curse, "made you like me." Penny accused. Once again little tingles were picking at his shielding.

Sheldon closed his eyes and tried to maintain his calm and not let what he had recently dubbed his 'Penny-sense' get through to him.

"No." He answered her quietly, "Nothing the three of them could do, or feel as the case may be, can make me do anything."

Along with her glare came more tingles. One of which had to have been an arrow that found the weak link in his armor and his protection against her went tumbling down. Anger was paramount, tangled in with disbelief and wanting to hurt him as she had been hurt. Feeling like she had been tricked kept fading and coming back depending on what she was thinking of.

So softly that he had trouble hearing her she said, "Lie."

Drowning in her anger, wanting to lash out he exploded, "I am not a liar! Do you really think that there is anything those three idiots could do, say, or feel that could force me to do anything?" In this moment Fake Sheldon was gone, the real him had fought to the surface and was determined to stay there. His accent kept getting thicker as he continued speaking, "The only thing the three of them thought about, have ever thought about, was getting into your pants. It was all physical, and with Howard it pretty much still is. That man thinks with his dick more than anyone else on earth."

Sheldon reveled in her slight amusement before continuing. "Their feelings made me decide to practice control again. I didn't want to feel that way towards you."

Penny interrupted again, "So you were forced into it."

"Well yes," Sheldon agreed. "Penny, you forced me into it. You were so nice to a bunch of nerds, well I classify myself as more of a geek but I digress, you made fun of us but you never did it to hurt us." He turned to clasp hands with her and forced her to look him in the eye, "And you may not want to hear this, but since day one your aura, or whatever you wanna name it, called to me. Since the very beginning you made me feel safe, which is something I never felt with someone outside of my Meemaw. Yes, you are attractive. You are desirable. At night I lie awake and crave your touch, I am ashamed to say that sometimes it comes to the point of self-abuse. I stayed away from you because I was scared of you, of what you represented. Of what you could mean to me. But Penny, I'm not afraid anymore."

Sheldon gently let go of her hands, but kept his eyes locked with hers. "The question now becomes, what do you feel? Can you accept my condition? Can you accept me? The real me?"

Penny stayed silent and Sheldon closed his eyes, trying to build his shielding up. He figured it would make things easier when she rejected him if he couldn't feel it coming.

"You, Sheldon the empath, don't know what I feel?" She asked. With his eyes closed he didn't see the small smile on her face.

"I am trying very hard not to." Was his answer.

Penny gave a small chuckle from deep in her throat, "Sheldon, what am I gonna do with you?"


	8. The Final Curtain

**And so we face the final curtain! I do have a supplemental of sorts that is almost ready for you guys. Even though I thought that this story was done, the idea of it still wouldn't leave me alone. **

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favs, and follows! **

* * *

"Ok Angel Face, let's try this again." Sheldon said with a little smile. "Try to focus."

Penny was sitting at the counter, a mug of hot cocoa in her hands, watching intently at the duo at the table.

Cecilia was sitting across from her father, eyes shut tight.

"You could try to use the exact shade of blue of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber before the restoration if you want." Penny said with a smirk at her husband. He rolled his eyes at her before returning his attention to their daughter.

The six year old girl giggled. She loved the way her parents acted, even if she didn't understand half of it.

"Ok." She announced to the room, "I'm ready. Hit me with your best shot." She was determined.

"Penny, light of my world, love of my life, I have something to tell you."

Penny raised her eyebrow and waited.

Sheldon started to 'tug' at her, enhancing her emotions to be at the level he wanted them at.

"The dent in the car? That wasn't hail damage as I led you to believe. I may or may not have run into a lamppost last week." Sheldon told her.

Disbelief and anger rolled off of her as she glared at her husband. She jumped off the chair, grabbed his arm, and pulled him into their living room.

"Explain." She demanded.

"A new comic book store had opened up two blocks down from – from the house." They may have lived in his grandmother's house for three years but he still couldn't bring himself to call it theirs. "You and Cecilia were having a girl's day. I was hurrying home to beat you there so I could surprise you two with dinner, and wasn't looking when I backed out of my parking spot. The hail storm? That was just a wonderful coincidence."

Penny heaved a sigh. "Dammit Sheldon! Why couldn't you tell me when it happened? The Chevy is only a year old!" In an abrupt change of topic she continued, "I hate these exercises that you do with Cecilia. I know it's meant to make her shields stronger, but all I ever get out of it is bad news."

Sheldon pulled her into a hug.

"I am sorry about that darlin'. How else would you rather she practice? I'm just doing -"

"What Meemaw did with you." Penny finished for him. "I get it, I just don't like being the guinea pig."

"Would you rather I brought up different emotions in you?" Sheldon whispered into her ear. He found himself reacting to her just like he always did when he held her for too long. The years had not taken away his affection, love, or desire for her.

"How about the way you make me feel?" He asked, 'tugging' slightly at her to coax her response. "Like on Monday night, after you put Cecilia to bed? We took a shower together? You teased me endlessly if you recall. The way you make me feel when your legs are wrapped around my waist, your arms pulling me closer to you, how your breasts fit perfectly in my hands? We could re-visit that instead if you desire."

Sheldon felt her body heat up as he was talking, and he would have dragged her upstairs if it wasn't for their daughter calling for them in the kitchen.

"Later." She whispered to him with a wink before turning to their child. "Yes my little love?"

"I think it did it!" Her blond hair bounced up and down as she jumped in excitement. "I knew what story daddy was gonna tell you, and I knew it would make you mad, but I didn't feel it coming from you!" She turned to face her father, "Daddy, can we try some more?"

"How about we just go to the park with the lake and people watch? I think mama is tired of being experimented on right now." Sheldon suggested.

Cecilia agreed and ran to get her shoes. Daddy didn't like it when she wore her flip-flops when they went out to the park.

As soon as she was gone, Penny pulled him back into her arms. "Thank you." Penny leaned up as Sheldon leaned down and they gave each other a soft kiss. Penny headed back to the kitchen and her cocoa, but in the doorway she paused and turned her head in his direction. "Oh, and Sheldon? If you want you can experiment on me later. Personally I never get tired of playing doctor."

**One last thing: points if you caught the Marvel Comic reference. Hint, Green Goblin! **


End file.
